Boy, Meet Boys
by HypernatedRikku
Summary: NOT based on Boy Meets Boy. Ryan, gay. Jason, gay, supposedly. Troy, curious? Might as well be.
1. Chapter 1

Ryan closed his eyes and tried to put his mind at ease. What luck he possibly could have stumbled upon, if it was classified as such. He sighed for about the umpteenth time. Currently, Ryan Evans was lying on his back, arms folded behind his head, on the lawn in front of East High. At about this time, everyone was at the pep rally. The musical was over, Troy and Gabriella had blown everyone away with such spectacular talent.

Spring sports were starting. Volleyball, Track, et cetera. Most of the basketball jocks would join track, seeing as they would have nothing else to do. In any case, it helped them stay fit for the upcoming year—but back to Mr. Evans' dilemma. It's only obvious, right? A blind man, who's partially deaf, and has lost his sense of touch and taste, trapped inside a car in the middle of nowhere could tell even this.

Ryan Evans was gay. Oh my gawd, someone call the National Guard, this cannot possibly be true. Oh, jeez, no.

So yeah, he's gay. His outfits and way of speech, not to mention his movement, didn't give it away? You must be really _naïve_ to not even think of that. Honestly? Though Ryan Evans wasn't popularly inept due to that factor. Not _too_ many actually cared of such matters. Ryan Evans was a drama nerd who palled around his twin sister all the time and never spoke up for him self. He rarely made his own friends, it was either they hung with Sharpay, or not at all. But he didn't care for that, not the slightest bit. He was happy being himself. He was gay, in both senses of the word.

Today was different though. He was slightly, in the tiniest way overthrown. Jason Cross. Adorable guy ain't he? Jason Cross unexpectedly took a trip out of his own closet. It was the most random, absurd, crazy stunt ever pulled by one such person. It was during break, after second period, Ryan was busy indulged in his locker routine to notice the cute brunette come up beside him. As Ryan slammed his locker, he jolted at the sight of Jason. It was definitely an unexpected visit from such an unexpected person, unexpectedly.

Jason sweetly smiled at the blonde, drama dork. Ryan turned his head slightly and arched his brow, making the cutest expression Jason had ever seen on a guy, or whatever he preferred to be categorized as. Jason chuckled, "Hey Ryan, How's it going? You were great in the musical. Awesome vocals. You _looked_ great, too."

Ryan was definitely perplexed by now, "Excusez-moi? Ce qui est-ce tu veux indiquer?" He's fluent in French, just FYI, well partially anyway.

Now it was Jason giving him the confused look, "No sé lo que usted está diciendo. No hablo Francés," Jason chuckled again; adorably cute. It just so happens that Jason chose to take Spanish. He scratched his head as he squinted his eyes, "I'm sorry, my brain would rather not work when it isn't class time, could we just speak English?" He opened his eyes and returned to smiling at Ryan.

Ryan nodded and smiled back, actually more like smirked. He cleared his throat and started again, "I don't get what you're trying to… Get at." Ryan gave a lopsided grin and acted innocently as to not be so blunt. Jason kept smiling and leaned in closer to the smaller boy; by like an inch. Their foreheads made contact with each other and Jason didn't give a rat's ass to who was taking notice. Although Ryan cared very much so of that factor. His face began to escalade in temperature, his vibrantly, pale skin growing as red as Rudolph's nose.

Jason tried once more, "I'm trying my best to seduce you without it being too far. You get me now?" He huffed, but his smile kept on growing. This was a very straightforward ginormous leap for Jason Cross. Maybe straight isn't politically correct for this time and place, but you catch the drift. Ryan was at a loss of words. _Very_ unexpected indeed.

We resume from the reminiscent past to find Ryan sitting up now. The sun has no affect on him as he's wearing one of his numerous vintage hats. Today he was wearing his Cornflower Blue beret. The bell rang and Ryan was unexpectedly shaken from his thoughts. He walked through the halls of East High, not glancing at any one person once. He just kept on walking, looking down at the floor, occasionally looking up to make sure he wasn't going to ram into a wall or something.

When Ryan reached his next class, third period Trigonometry, he hurriedly sat into the seat farthest in the back. His teacher was a negligent type of person. He only called on people close to his peripheral vision. That is, he only calls on people he sees in the front of the class. Ryan didn't feel up to gaining class participation points. He just wanted to think quietly to himself. He then started to recall what happened soon after Jason left. Ryan had gone into the music room to contemplate about the unexpected visit.

"Evans, my boy! I'm pretty sure I know what the Spring musical, or musicale, is gonna be on. Want to know?" Troy Bolton grabbed a nearby chair and sat on it, his arms being supported by the top rim of the chair's back. His chest, his very fine and toned out, beautifully sculptured chest, was nearly touching the chair's back as a result. He was smiling joyously as he stared at the sidetracked boy in front of him.

Ryan looked at him with a blank face, his mouth somewhat agape. "I'm sorry, what did you say?" Ryan smiled weakly and tried to focus on Troy, but he just couldn't shake the thought of Jason asking him out. He was certainly giddy, overly giddy that he couldn't show any signs of enjoyment.

"Ryan, you're so cute." Troy was referring to the look Ryan habitually makes. It was a look stating, "I'm sorry, I know you've repeated that about twenty times, but could you say it again?" What made Ryan look even cuter was that he had a look of innocence graced upon him, and tilting his head to the side was the cherry on top of the whipped cream-doused sundae.

Ryan vigorously blushed, how blunt was that? Troy didn't even hesitate. The loud laugh that escaped Troy's lips could only infer to him thinking Ryan had exceeded the adorable limit thanks to his now blood-rushing face. Yes, Ryan could feel his face light up once more. Twice times and less than ten minutes. Two different scenarios. That has got to be a record. Troy found it hard to believe that Ryan was still capable of blushing. You'd think spending your entire life in front of an audience would make that annoying trait just disappear into thin air. But apparently, that's completely wrong. For Ryan Evans' case as it seems so truthfully to be.

Troy's fit of chuckling had ended and he wiped a tiny tear away from his right eye, "Ryan, your face. It's so red. Haha. Oh god, you're unbelievably…" Troy trailed off; it was bad enough he had called him cute, now he was going to say it again? He let out a breath whilst looking down at the floor. "Yup, well anyway, um. See—see ya later, Evans." He picked the chair up with one hand and placed it back where it was. Ryan was staring off into space and didn't notice the glance Troy gave as he stepped out of the room.

'What is going on today, am I being Punk'd or something? Seriously?' Ryan tried to move on but he was just so, taken aback. It was incredibly delusional. But he knew for sure that this was actually happening. His palms became very clammy and he couldn't get his fingers to stop shivering. Playing the piano was quite difficult with such difficulties harassing you, i.e. sweaty, shaky palms.

The bell had rung ending third period. Again, shaken from his thoughts for a split second, Ryan grabbed his book and left the Trig class. Hopefully this terrifying Monday would end quickly. He didn't want to come across any two of them. Another posing problem was Drama Queen sister, Sharpay finding out that Jason asked him out. Sure Sharpay knew of Ryan's coming out, she only forced him into letting it out. What he feared was her reaction. She could either take the overly excited way by telling _everyone_ in the school about it or she can take the pissed off way and spread nasty rumors of them both. Both basically with the same premise. He only prayed that she hadn't noticed anything.

"Ryan, I heard that Jason-boy asked you out or something. Is this true?" Ryan inwardly cursed and turned to face her in front of his locker. "He's cute, I think you should go for it. Your first boyfriend, oh my gawd, can you like believe it? Even I'm shocked I mean, he asked _you_ out? How crazy is that? You must have turned him gay someway or another. How'd you do it? Come on, tell me!"

Ryan scoffed at her sister making a "whatever" face, "As if. I don't know what you're talking about. And I don't know how to turn anyone gay." He slammed his locker and started to walk away when she pulled him back.

"Ryan, don't be stupid, I know it's true. I was just there. I was coming over to talk to you when Jason so _rudely_ cut in front of me. He must have not seen me, I don't know how, but he didn't."

'_How _rude_ of you, Jason! Ugh, the nerve.' Sharpay stepped back a little, still upset when she noticed he went over to talk to Ryan. That was quite frankly, an odd spectacle. She sidestepped to the nearest locker and shoved the girl away. She screamed and said "hey" but Sharpay told her to leave before she kicked her ass. The locker's door was just big enough to obscure Sharpay from their view, but not cover her view of them. She listened very attentively and gasped at the sound of what she thought was Jason asking her brother out._

"Ryan, we're twins, you can't hide anything from me." With that said she smiled at him and twiddled her fingers, "Tootles."


	2. Chapter 2

It felt so real. He was only wishing it was. Ryan sat up on his bed, deep in thought. His blankets still covered his lower half while his pillows propped him up right. He scanned his room; it was only four in the morning, two more hours till he had to get ready for his morning routine.

-Rinse his mouth with mouthwash

-Pee

-Go down for breakfast; eat it

-Brush his teeth

-Pick an outfit

-Fix his hair

-Print out homework he was too lazy to print out the night before

-Grab his stuff

-Knock on Sharpay's door and tell her to hurry

-Give his ensemble a last 'once over'

Letting out an aggravated sigh he reclined on his bed and put his hands over his face. He muffled some incoherent words to himself. In his mind he was slapping himself for waking up. For you see, his dream contained two longing-desires of him: Jason asking him out (and leaning his head on his), Sharpay approving of it (not ashamed of her faggot brother), and Troy accidentally calling him cute (almost twice).

"Damn-it, why? Why? Because I'm not meant to have a boyfriend. I don't know a single soul in my life that approves of my outlook on life. That's perfect, right? And to top it all off, I'm talking to myself. Great, now I'm crazy too." Ryan cursed in his mind and tried to go back to sleep. He was already cranky; he didn't want to be that way for school.

The roaring wind outside continuously pounded on his balcony doors keeping him alive. He was a bit paranoid. He didn't like noises from outside his house--his bedroom, especially while he was alone in it. He shivered slightly at the thought of someone outside the sliding glass doors, just staring him down contemplating when he should break in. Ryan tried to clear his mind and focus on the one thing he wanted to do, sleep. But it was hard seeing as he's paranoid.

_EEP! EEP! EEP! EEP! EEP! EEP! EEP—SLAM._

Ryan had just slapped his alarm clock off. The alarm was loud and annoying, but as long as it got Ryan up, it was something he could bear with. What he found even more annoying was the radio turned up really loud in the morning, so he preferred the annoying 'eeping' or whatever sound it made.

Our little fag finished his morning routine rather early. He didn't bother to have breakfast, for some reason he just wasn't up to it. Though he knew it was just going to bite him in the ass later on that day. He didn't mind though, his mind was occupied with one thing. His dream. Oh how he longed it to be true. But sadly, the more you want something so unbelievably far, the farther it gets.

"Ryan, stop stalling, you're gonna make us late." Oddly, Sharpay was the one rushing Ryan. This morning was just not going his way.

Currently, Ryan was perched on his bed staring at his reflection, he wasn't checking himself out though, he just had nothing to do. Sharpay yelled for him again and he stood up lowly, eyes still focused on the mirror. His hat wasn't matching at all with his outfit but he couldn't find the one he wanted. He had hoped if he wore the exact same clothing in his dream, everything would actually happen. But of course that very hat went missing. Oh joy.

They arrived at school five minutes before the bell. Sharpay had a cowlick crisis and they had to turn back home so she could get her Smoothing Milk. Ryan walked up the staircase to homeroom, following Sharpay's rapid movement. She wanted to go in there as early as possible so she could sit in her favorite spot. Two rows from Miss Darbus; third seat. Ryan never figured out why she always had to have _that_ seat, but if she didn't he'd have to hear about it later.

But he wouldn't have minded, he would just zone out and think about what he'd been thinking about since he woke up. Suddenly, a loud group of boys hurried in right when the bell tolled. He turned to look and saw Jason and Troy. He inadvertently smiled at them receiving weird looks, but smiles nonetheless, from the group; Jason and Troy were his main focus. Miss Darbus stood up abruptly and the jocks sternly sat down in the nearest seats. Troy glanced at Ryan who was lost in his thoughts staring straightforward. He smirked slightly till Chad nudged him on his arm giving him a confused look. Troy scratched the back of his head and looked at Miss Darbus preach.

The bell rang again and everyone rushed out of homeroom. Troy lagged behind and caught up with Ryan, "Hey Ry. So, you gonna try out for the year-end musical? I think I know what it's about."

Ryan looked at him skeptically, "That's a dumb question, when have I ever not tried out?"

Troy grinned and bit his lip, "Right…" He shoved his hands into his pocket and walked quietly alongside Ryan who was just as equally silent. 'So, this is nice. A calm, quiet walk with a boy, how romantic,' Troy thought regretfully. He didn't really know why he was walking alongside him, he just wanted to, he guessed. Ryan then broke Troy away from his thoughts.

"We're walking rather slowly, we should hurry before the—" But Ryan was cut off by what he wanted to prevent. The bell rang again and now the two boys were in the "late to class" predicament. They looked at each other briefly and both ran in separate directions. It was kind of illogical to walk together when they're period ones were in different locations.

Ryan made a mad dash for Chemistry. It wasn't something he enjoyed; both running and Chem. Lab. But he had to go, otherwise earning himself a nice, fresh detention slip. He was already marked as tardy, might as well not make it any worse. As for Troy, he didn't know where he was off to.

Ryan got into class and heaved in deeply for oxygen. The entire class was looking at him and the teacher had stopped his lesson. He lowered his glasses and pointed to the empty seat in front of him. Ryan sighed and obediently sat in the desk. "Mr. Evans," Professor Straussenheuz started, "you're late. Care to explain on this account?" Ryan shook his head and Prof. Straus just gave a humph and turned back to writing on the whiteboard.

"Hey, Ryan. You're late." Jason smiled at him and looked back down at his notes.

Ryan looked over to him, not noticing that Jason was sitting next to him. He felt his insides mush together. These desks were the long kinds that fit two people at one table. But he summoned all his courage as to not appeal like he's made of jelly. He cleared his throat and started, "Nice of you to notice."

Jason chuckled lightly and the teacher whipped around clearing his own throat. The two dropped their smiles and looked up at him, only returning them when he turned back around. "What'd you do, Ryan? Get lost at a school you've been going to for almost three years? How blonde can you be?"

"Jason. Shut up," Really, in Ryan's head he didn't mean it, he wanted to prolong the conversation as long as possible. All that mattered was he was actually _talking_ to Jason. A very big step up for him. He heard Jason chuckle again and that only increased the emerging smile on his face. He looked at him one more time and sighed dreamily, 'Oh Jason. You're so cute.'

"I'm sorry, what?!" Jason whipped his head to the side and blurted out the question hastily. His face grew warm and he couldn't fight back the oncoming blush.

'Oh shi—I said that out loud?! Oh my fu—' Ryan grinned sheepishly and giggled nervously.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:**** Finals. Laziness. Yeah. This chapter is short. REVIEW ! **

* * *

The bell rang and a rush of relief came over Ryan. The remaining class period was dealt with in an awkward silence between him and Jason. They were both uneasy, Jason the most of the two. So after the bell had rung, they packed up hurriedly and tried rushing out without noticing the other. But as luck would have it, they accidentally collided when they reached the doorway. 

"I'm sorry!" Ryan pleaded. He bent down at the exact same time Jason did.

"Don't worry, it's fine, " nervousness was clearly heard in Jason's voice. His hands weren't working properly and he kept dropping whatever he tried to pick up.

Ryan stopped assisting with the fallen items and stared at him with a hurt look on his face, "No, I mean for earlier." Students continually harassed them both to move out so they jumped at the chance and fled off to the side. Ryan continued, "Look, I didn't mean to uh…?—weird you out. I'm sorry."

Jason sighed and then a smirked at the regretful boy in front of him, "No worries, man. I don't even remember it."

Ryan laughed while swallowing hard, he was hurt even more with the sentiment, but he didn't want to show it. The two shook hands briefly and departed from one another. As Ryan walked away, he felt feverish. He couldn't help but feel as though Jason was going to tell everyone what he had said. If that were to happen, it would surely end what ever is that's left of Ryan's social life. Ryan doesn't have many friends already, and this will just nip him in the ass.

Ryan gave an upset sigh and slid his hand down his face, 'I hope he doesn't say anything. Damnit.'

* * *

Gabriella made her way through the hallways of East high, her face bearing a depressing frown. She wasn't sure if what she was feeling was really what she was feeling. What she experienced with him was great. But—this was such a dilemma, she couldn't bear seeing his face, but he popped out at her everywhere. It was like he was _stalking_ her!

Gabriella was soon shaken away from her thoughts when Troy came by. He kissed her forehead and grabbed her shoulders, lowering himself to her level. "Gabby, seriously, what's the matter? You've had that depressing air to you for the past few days. You always sound sad on the phone, you never feel like going out, what's up?"

She faked a sweet smile and looked at him, "Nothing Troy—"

"Bull." Troy had cut her off and he let go of his grasp on her, "If you can't tell me why you're so sad, then how is this relationship going to work?" Troy dropped his head and walked away with his hands in his pocket.

* * *

Sharpay gently chewed on her food and stared at her brother. He looked quite apprehensive, his eyes darting back and forth from table to table. She giggled at his odd behavior and rolled her eyes. "Ryan, stop it, you're scaring me."

He looked at her with frantic eyes and bit on his lower lip. "W-what are you talking about? I'm not doing anything."

Sharpay rolled her eyes at him again and pushed his food tray towards him, "Eat up, it's getting cold." She sipped her water bottle and wiped the gloss off of the rim. "And whoever you're worrying about, don't."

Ryan face clearly showed his confusion and anxiety. How did she always know? If he had asked she would have said the same clichéd thing every one like them, TV or not, has said, 'Because we're twins.' He grumbled at the thought and pushed his food tray away from him. "I'm not that hungry. And I'm not worrying about anyone." He looked over at the jocks and looked down at his laps, his hands folded between his thighs, "So stay out of my mind."

Sharpay, for the third time in a row, rolled her eyes, "I didn't have to. It's written all over your face. Literally—"

"What?!" Ryan frantically reached into his backpack and pulled out a small hand-mirror. He gave his face a look over and narrowed his eyes at his sister. "Do not."

"Ryan," Sharpay started, she drank her water and took a bite from her salad, "you're such a spaz." At that comment Ryan made a face and got up abruptly. "Where you headed?"

Ryan stepped out of his chair and grabbed his backpack, "I'm gonna head to the bathroom and then to my locker. I won't be long." He slouched one of the straps over his shoulder and walked away, not before tripping over himself, in front of the jocks even.

"Be careful." Troy waved at him and gave a cute smile. It wasn't meant to be cute, but it sure looked it. Ryan smiled back weakly, his blush trying hard to disappear. He accidentally shifted his gaze towards Jason who casually looked away. Ryan just frowned and walked on.

Ryan concluded when he got home. Today was the worst day possible. He embarrassed himself in front of Jason twice, and now, he wants nothing to do with him. That was just perfect. Troy was sweet, but he always was since the Musical. But that wasn't enough to ease hi pain and mortification. It was just too much. His friendship hadn't even started with Jason, and already he screwed that up. Damnit. Damnit to hell.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry**

**Warning: Language, Sexual innuendoes, Gay-bashing, Vadgenessa-bashing (I REALLY hate her...)**

**Synopsis: Troy & Gabriella's relationship takes a turn for the worse. I know, I'm happy too.**

**Also note****: Jason is not being bashed in any way in this chapter. I just thought it would be cute to portray him as the dumb, "out of the circle" one. But, by "out of the circle" I DO NOT mean "out of closet" …yet ;) REVIEW!**

If he had thought about it, if he had cared about it, Troy probably would have admitted that Gabriella was the closest thing he had to a conscience. It wasn't that he didn't want to do the right thing; it was that his idea of the right thing wasn't always the best choice, regardless the end result. Not to mention the fact that seeking advice from his "jock" friends was but a lost cause; their combined IQ was equivalent to none other than yesterday's roadkill.

But Gabi, well, she was the voice of reason, and as much as he hated to listen to her, she was usually, usually right.

Not that he would ever admit to that.

"Troy, we need to talk." Her words echoed clear in his head as they began their awkward exchange of words; the dismissal bell chimed throughout the school building. The two were at their usual after school spot, a.k.a. in front of Ms. Montes' locker.

"Sure babe, anything for you." His typical smile spread across his face, which disappeared quickly as Gabriella didn't return the gesture.

Sensing the obvious discomfort, Troy leaned in to give his ideal girlfriend a kiss, he didn't know why, but he needed something to do to stop him from making the situation even worse. This apparently backfired as Gabriella turned away, leaving Troy to French kiss her umm, earring. "Uh. Sorry." He tried. Desperately.

Gabriella faked another smile. "I'll be out front in 20. I have a quick rehearsal with Kelsey scheduled and I can't keep her waiting."

And so, our beloved hero sits outside in the shadow of the school courtyard, clad in his nicely fitted basketball uniform, fingertips fiddling with a basketball that oddly never leaves his side, his teeth chewing gently on the piece of Orbit in his mouth (all on the misconception that maybe Gabriella was just in need of some TLC, and the simple notion of an after school makeout session would fix everything, or so he hoped).

He can't figure out why he feels so… he can't even figure out what it is. Is this nervousness? It feels like fear, but not nearly as strong, and causes little flips in his stomach, not the constricting of his chest he associated when he and Gabriella used to spend time together. He can't figure out where this feeling is coming from, except for maybe if this "confrontation" with Gabriella doesn't end quickly, he may be late for basketball practice. Troy knew what he was in for anyway; Gabriella was going to give him a long talk about "the importance of communication in a relationship", how "couples should address all small problems before they get out of hand" & all that bull. He didn't really seem to mind actually. It was quite flattering for him to have another person following him around like a sick puppy.

"Troy." He broke away from his daze to find Gabriella standing in front of him, avoiding eye contact.

"Gabriella! Wow, sorry, I didn't even notice you coming," Troy began, pulling her slender frame toward his. "Listen, I know—"

"Troy…" her eyes welling up with tears, "…I can't do this anymore."

...

As his luck—and his intuition— would have it, Troy bolted (lol) through the doors of the East High gymnasium just in time, well technically, almost in time, to have his father scold him for being tardy to practice.

"We'll see just how much time you'd like to spend with that Montes girl when you're dropped from the team," Coach Bolton's apathetic tone unfaltering.

"Don't worry Dad," Troy jeered as he joined his teammates on the opposite side of the court, "Gabriella isn't my problem anymore!"

Troy could see his father's immediate attitude switch the moment he said those 5 words. It wasn't that his father disliked Gabriella, not at all. No parents would disapprove of a nice, quiet, intelligent young woman courting their basketball superstar of a son. No one, not even Sharpay "the Ice Queen" Evans truly hated sweet, gentle, Gabriella Montes. No one, at least, for that given moment.

_Gabriella, breaking up with me? Un-fucking-believable. Me, suffocating HER? Calling me a stalker? Not giving her any space? She's the one attached to my f-ing groin all of the f-ing time! I'm the one that always has to protect her whenever she gets her slu— WTF!_

"Troy?" A sympathetic, but even more curious Chad interrupted Troy's thoughts. Well, that, and a basketball straight to the temple.

"Troy, what on earth is the matter with you?"

"Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. Didn't see that one coming. Anyone have an aspirin?"

"Troy, I was talking about what happened between you and Gabriella."

"Yeah, so was I. Seriously, anyone got a Tylenol or two? My head is fucking killing me."

Jason, particularly oblivious to Troy's utmost request, joined in on the conversation. "What, did you guys like, break up, or something?"

With that, Troy chucked the basketball straight to Jason's face, knocking him ass first on the artificial wood of the court, much pain intended.

"Yes guys, she dumped me. Happy? I guess now I should just forget the spring musical—"

"—Musicale." Jason chimed in, his face scarlet where the ball struck.

"Who cares what it's called. I'm here now, okay? Point guard, forward and center, cheerleader, I don't give a fuck. I'm fucking here to play basketball."

It was as if the heavens were on his side; a split second later Coach Bolton blew his whistle. It was 6 o' clock, practice was over.

Troy, completely confident that his day couldn't get any worse, headed over to the boy's locker room. Chad caught up with him.

"Look man, whatever happened, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, me too." Troy said in a solemn tone.

"Me three!" There was Jason again.

"She said I was suffocating her man," Troy started, with no regard whatsoever to Jason's remark, "said she needed space and that… I was stalking her. Wtf is that?"

"But you guys were only together a week!" Jason cried, desperately trying to be a part of this conversation.

Chad rolled his eyes. "First she's all over your dick to be in some gay musical, and now you're stalking her? Women, I tell ya."

"I heard that," Troy chuckled. Chad wasn't the most intelligent among his friends, but he was friend, a good one in fact.

"Like this one time, me and Taylor were alone at her place right. She kicks me out just because I didn't wanna wear one, ya know?"

"Chad, are you fucking with me?"

The three boys started laughing hysterically. Well, the two boys plus an incognito Jason.

Just then, an unnamed teammate called out, "What's so funny Bolton? I knew from the start you weren't man enough for Moan-tes. What happened between you lovebirds anyway, huh? She realize she wasn't into pretty boy show-tune singin' fags like yourself?""

"Fuck off." Troy headed for the exit.

Another unnamed teammate sneered, "Looks like we got another Evans queen of EHS, and I'm not talking about Sharpay either." (Troy could hear Zeke cursing from the showers).

Grabbing that very teammate by the neck of his jersey, Troy pushed him against the lockers as hard as he could. "I'm not Ryan Evans. Ryan Evans is some fairy dressed singing queer who, like his sister, enjoys hitting on straight guys to scare the living shit out of them. Got it?"

For some odd reason, with this statement, Jason and Troy looked right at each other, neither one knowing exactly why. This stare was broken almost immediately, as other members of the team began gawking at the two, uh, gawking each other.

Troy dropped the jackass and once again headed toward the exit.

_What a day._ He thought to himself_. I swear if one more person decides to climb up my a—_

His thoughts were once again interrupted by Chad (and Jason, following closely behind).

"Bolton, my man!" Chad jeered, offering Troy a hearty high-5. (Jason held up a high-5 as well, only to be ignored, of course).

Troy returned the gesture. "Thanks, you know me. No one calls me a fag and lives it down" he said, almost proudly.

"Haha. You're telling me. Even I couldn't disagree with what you said in there. Did you really mean all that about that Evans kid? Is all that true?"

Troy looked at Chad, and gave a quick glance to Jason (not knowing why, again).

_Ryan Evans is some fairy dressed singing queer…_

"I meant every word." Never in his life did he have to fake a laugh as much as he did that moment.

Chad gave him an approving pat on the back. Jason, as it seemed, stifled a laugh of his own. The three walked on together a bit more, and then departed on separate paths home.

_Of course I didn't mean any of that about Ryan Evans,_

Not that he would ever admit to that.


End file.
